


Like Graffiti on the Walls of the Heartland

by kimaracretak



Category: Nikita (TV 2010)
Genre: Gen, blink and you'll miss it amanda/sonya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 22:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(she's got her little book of conspiracies right in her hand): post-ep for 2x18 "power". sonya gets a backstory, gets a voice, gets angry</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Graffiti on the Walls of the Heartland

Here’s the problem: Sonya _believed._

Not in Percy, who never seemed smart enough to run a convenience store, much less Division. Not in Michael, who was all brute force with just enough brainpower to avoid getting his people killed, most of the time. Not even in Birkhoff, who taught her to survive by keeping her head down and pretending that the dots on the screen were just that, dots - not agents, people who might not live through the next ten minutes.

No, she believed in Amanda, the woman who got her out of prison and explained that no matter what the military said, she still had a life ahead of her. Amanda, who showed her that the world was _wrong_ when they said there was no place for a smart black woman who wanted to serve her country.

Amanda watched Sonya demolish the FBI database in fifteen seconds and said _oh, darling, the military doesn’t know what a treasure they threw away,_ and Sonya lit up with pride because it was the first time someone praised her because they thought she was worthy of the praise, not because they thought they had to.

And here’s the thing: they _worked._

Even before Amanda’s coup, they were a good team. Sonya would bring her information - not like Amanda didn’t already know everything that went on at Division, but Sonya had ways of getting outside intel Amanda needed - and Amanda invited her to dinner sometimes and reminded Sonya that even underground, Division was more that concrete walls and glass screens that spoke of death.

And after Percy was locked up, it was even better. Amanda understood people and Sonya understood technology and together they were Division. They remade it in their own image: sleek and modern and pushing for _real_ homeland security, not Percy’s mercenary farce. More: Amanda listened to her, treated her - well, not as an equal, but as a real person with a real voice and real opinions that could help improve Division and even listened to her criticism. And if Amanda grew more secretive and more capricious as the days passed and Nikita’s threat came ever closer, well, she was just trying to keep them alive. Amanda, she thought, was the type of leader people would die for without regret.

And here’s the end: Amanda _lied._

Not the way everyone in Division lied, those lies you have to tell to survive a mission or get through another day without thinking of all the faces who are dead (because of you). No, Amanda lied about the purpose of Division, about how she cared for all her agents. The way she knew all their names, all their faces, the way her face crumbled just a little bit when she watched a tracker go offline. Amanda lied about Division wanting to protect the country, lied when she said she wanted to bring real, beneficial change to the world. 

Sonya watched Amanda stalk around the Zetrov boardroom like she already owned it, the way her body curved around Ari Tasarov’s even when they were on opposite sides of the room, the little smile as she declared her agents expendable. Amanda reminded her of Percy in that moment, and it felt like a punch right in her throat. Maybe you had to be broken to lead Division, she thought, but that didn’t mean you had to _enjoy_ it.

And here’s the beginning: Sonya _remembered._

Remembered how Amanda taught her how to be strong, to lead, how she trusted her to lead Division in her absence. Amanda made her brain a weapon, her body an asset. Because of Amanda, she knew how to shoot a gun better than anyone in Operations, even if she’d never killed anyone.

Never killed anyone, _yet._ No one had ever betrayed her like Amanda did, played her so perfectly that she forgot to be guarded all the time. She had admired Amanda, the delicate balance she had struck between cold and caring, the way she _wanted_ and she _took_ and never apologized and told Sonya it was okay for her to do the same.

Well, now she wanted Amanda’s head.

She wanted to stand over her with gun and listen to the woman plead with her.

Most of all, she wanted Amanda to say _i’m sorry._

Amanda made Sonya dangerous. Amanda, she vowed, was going to regret that.

**Author's Note:**

> written in march 2012


End file.
